Progress… and FRUSTRATION on the fitness front

I’ve been STUCK at 295 for about a month now. sigh Grrrrrrr….. I wanna be SLIMMER!

I’m getting fitter and healthier…

True that I am “stuck” on the weight loss front…but other indicators are more rewarding…

…and THAT friends, neighbors, and dearest readers, is why you use more than one metric to measure your progress. I know I’m getting fitter and healthier. Here is why:

I can do more; I’m moving more; I’m more physically active.

THEN: The last week of Feb, taking a “dance lesson / training” (more on that later) lasting 2 hours was at the upper limit of my physical ability and stamina. and I had to rest most of the next day...

NOW: I can not only take 3 hours of “dance lessons / training” (more on that later) I can also on the same day do an hour of practice or teach an hour lesson. And [drum roll please] I do NOT have to rest the next day to recover. The following day, I can do another dance practice or a lesson, or meet with a student or do laundry or get groceries or any number of routine things.

THEN: In Jan and most of Feb, “doing laundry” was an all day affair. Basically that was my entire “to do list” for a day. Sort clothes. Rest. Get coins, key and laundry soap ready. Rest. Spray pre-wash on sorted clothes. Rest. Take clothes to laundry room, put them in the washer. REST Go to laundry room to move clothes to the dryer. REST Go get clothes from dryer and bring them to the condo. REST A LONG TIME Hang clothes, fold clothes and put them all away. TAKE A NAP TO RECOVER and then rest most of the next day...

NOW: I do other stuff while I’m doing laundry. It basically ain’t no big deal any more. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t suddenly like doing laundry and I really wish we had a washer dryer in the condo…but this activity is no longer something that I have to plan for and allocate a rest day afterwards! It is well within my physical capabilities and no longer is at the TOP of what my body is able to do.…

When you feel overwhelmed…do ONE thing!

Saying “I am going to get fit and healthy” is a simple easy thing to do.

ACTUALLY getting there is NOT!

So, when you feel overwhelmed; when the number on the scale seems stuck; when you’re down, blue, not motivated and everything seems impossible…

Do ONE Thing…

Just one. One POSITIVE thing.

It doesn’t matter what “thing” you do. Bend over a pick up a sock and put it in the hamper.

Look at that unmade bed and straighten out the pillows. Or pull the comforter or bedspread out flat to cover the mess.

Wash your face.

Empty the wastebasket in your office, bedroom, or bathroom.

Feed the kitty a few treats. (And no, you can’t have any of the treats!)

Because when you do ONE Thing…

Doing the SECOND thing is easier…

I am not a neat person.

After 53 years of life, I accept that, even though I actually a “place for everything” — “everything” will NEVER be in its place.

At least not all at the same time.

My life is filled with clutter. My outward living space often reflects my inner thoughts where I bound from one thing to another to another to another, leaving a trail of creative chaos in my wake.

Some would argue that the chaos is not so creative; don’t listen to them.

Few would deny, however, that it is entertaining!

Squirrel!

Therefore, my “One Thing” often is something to do with cleaning…

Given that my home is usually a mess, for me, the “one thing” is usually a bit of neatening or straightening or cleaning.

Everyone is different. Your “one thing” might be putting on a piece of music. Or entering ONE check into your check register. Or it might be filling up your 7-day pill organizer with this week’s medications.

Or…taking the dog for a walk.

Or…mailing a birthday card to a loved one.

Or…adding an item to the “shopping list” on the refrigerator door. Or…

It doesn’t really matter WHAT you do as long as you do SOMETHING!

It has got to be a “positive” thing. Take a step. Any Step. It is that first step that is the most important one. And it does NOT have to be a big step.

Step #1 is always the hardest, so make it a teeeeeeennnny tiny thing! Make sure that you can succeed when you take that tiny step. Do that tiny “one thing.”

Do something that you KNOW you can do….because who knows, when taking a step, just where any step might lead?

One thing I can promise you is that doing that one thing, WILL lead to doing another, which will lead to another. IF…

…after you pick up that sock and toss it in the dirty clothes hamper, you do a mini-celebration. After all you DESERVE IT!

You just girded your loins! You mustered your gumption! You fought against the feeling of battling an overwhelming MOUNTAIN of things yet to be done and you STARTED! You took a step FORWARD! You just did SOMETHING good!

Woo Hoo! Yay! YeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeHAW!

You, my friend, my dearest readers, DESERVE to celebrate! Because…

Depression and other “negative”
feelings are no laughing matter…

When I am feeling “depressed” it usually manifests in one of two ways:

A feeling of futility or hopelessness..
OR less frequently as:..

Anger. — Which according to the articles I’ve read is VERY typical for men battling depression.For some reason that scientists can’t quite figure out yet, men suffering from depression often are more on edge, stressed, likely to explode over minor things.

Do a quick Google Search on “Depression in Men.” The information is easy to find.

Doing SOMETHING positive for myself…

…no matter how small. How “tiny” in the grand scheme of things. Makes me feel better.

There is actual real science behind this simple idea. Google “Feedback Loops” — they can be either negative or positive.

By doing one “good / positive” thing you are halting a negative feedback loop and turning it into a positive feedback loop!

And that’s the key. With that teeeeeeeeeeny tiny step. With one SMALL action. You are breaking a negative cycle.

Ooooooooooooohhhhhhh!!! AAaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

Yes, dearest readers, from your sounds of approval, I see that you are now amazed at my clever insights. 😉

Seriously, it really is that simple. Not easy, no, but simple!

HOWEVER… you have to do the “celebration” part

Make a game of it.

And if you get silly and start laughing at yourself or if your kids or grand kids are present, then don’t worry they will start laughing right along with you! And you’ll be firmly on that positive feedback loop, putting negativity behind you.

Picture this:

Me. Gloomy. Not motivated. Overwhelmed. Hopeless. Feeling like that it is all pointless. Why even bother? Who cares if I’ve lost over 40 lbs! I still have over a 100 lbs to go! It is impossible. I’ve set my sights too high. I’ll never get there. sigh

There are too many hurdles. It is hopeless. Then, bored, I scroll through Facebook, looking at all my friends living wonderful lives filled with fun, love, and skinny-ness. SIGH

Third post in a series…

This is the third in a series where I go through all the drugs and vitamin supplements that my doctor has instructed me to take and I provide you with a list of links / readings / background information.

For the full backstory and the 411 on Invokana and the ACA, check out the first post:

I am a fairly new diabetic. I was diagnosed in June 2015, approximately 6 months ago. My doctor immediately put me on two diabetic drugs. This was in addition to the drugs I was taking to control my high blood pressure and dust/dust mite allergies.

A month ago at my last doctor’s visit, because of the results from a comprehensive panel of bloodwork, I was ordered to start taking a HUGE number of mega-doses of vitamin and mineral supplements.

Which of course lead me to having a LOT of questions! So I started doing research online and since I blog and I was once upon a time a Librarian, I thought “AHA!” — instant blog post series! Woot!

Standard disclaimer:

I am not a doctor. I am not giving medical advice. I’m just sharing my own experiences.
Before you make any changes that could affect your health, you should talk to your doctor first!

So, here’s the next drug/supplement on my list:

Niacin

Q: When and how should I take Niacin?

A: Talk to your doctor for doses and frequency. — I was taking it 2 x per day, once around 9 in the morning and then again around 9 at night, 500mg Extended-Release tablet.

Q: Any drug interactions that I should watch for?

A: YES! as with most drugs there is a big long list of possible interactions, but…

OMG! This drug/supplement interacts apparently interacts with just about EVERYTHING! And it has some funky side effects too! After discussing things with my doctor, she ordered me to stop taking it.

The reasons my doctor order me to stop taking it were:

(1) I was having hot flashes. My whole body seemed to rise in temperature; I could literally put my hand close to an arm or leg and feel the heat radiating from my body.

(2) My face would have a kind of “pin-prick” sensation all over my head, face and ears. Very similar to the feeling that you get when the circulation returns to an arm or leg that “went to sleep.”

Reasons number 1 & 2 above are actually pretty common side effects. And while feeling weird, are worth putting up with because of the benefits of taking the Niacin.

The reason a doctor will order you to take Niacin is to lower bad cholesterol and increase the good cholesterol. Which is something I need to do based on that huge panel of blood tests my doctor did on me.

IF it had only been the funky flashes, then my doctor would have told me to keep taking the drug as long as they didn’t increase in frequency or intensity.

But the thing that caused my doctor to order me to stop was:

(3) Niacin was interfering with the effectiveness of Janumet (50 mg/1000 mg) and Invokana (300 mg), the two drugs I take to control my Type 2 Diabetes.

Where to start? So much news to share…

One of the hardest things about writing and/or blogging, is deciding on just what to write about and how much to write. Ideas are always popping into my head. I have a post-it note program on my Mac that I use to jot down ideas about topics as they occur in an attempt to stay organized.

Sometimes I even start a post then save it as a draft to finish later. We will not even begin to discuss how many of those I have saved in draft mode waiting for me to return and finish the post… sigh

And then I have a week like the one just past, so chock full of stuff that it generates even MORE ideas!

“Whateva shall I do? I feel faint with the stress of it all…” [using my best Southern Belle / accent]

My blood glucose number was 119 this morning…

I woke up this morning at a teeny tiny bit just past 9 am.

Yes, you read that correctly. OMG! Of course it probably helped that I went to bed last night around 11-ish. But this is unusual for me. My normal range is 2am – 10/11 am.

And recently, over the past month and a half, I’ve not been able to get to sleep until 4 or 5 or 6 am after which I sleep 8-10 hours and wake up waaaaaaaayyyy after the “day” has started for most folks,

So… getting up at 9am where I’d really LIKE my wake up time to be so this is great. YAY!

And this has been the case now for almost an entire week! So my sleep patters may be shifting back to the “typical norm” YAY!

I went to my doctor yesterday…

…and I had dropped 8 lbs from my last visit to her office. YAY!

I had gone to her because I have ringing in my ears. She is trying a couple of things and said she’ll send me to a specialist if the stuff she is trying doesn’t work and stop the ringing within a couple of weeks. YAY!

Since I was there anyway, she went ahead and did the “follow up” stuff — monitoring my diabetes and high blood pressure and weight management stuff.

I showed her my chart from the blood glucose testing meter and I’ve been 95% within the target range that she has set for my blood sugar. She was all happy about that! Woot!

And the reason this “doctor stuff” is unqualified “good news” is because thanks to President Obama and thousands of people who worked very hard to pass and protect the ACA, I am under medical care. Before qualifying for the ACA subsidiy I would have just ignored the ringing in my ears, and my diabetes and … well you get the picture. Health insurance is good. YAY!

Not having health insurance. BAD. – not “yay”

AND this is “good news” because when I called up to make the appointment, she said that she would bill me for the $20 copay. She said I could pay it after the first of the month when I get my pension check. Which is awesome because if she had not said that I would have not been able to go.

My checking balance, the day before yesterday, on Monday, when I called her to make the appointment, was sitting at 67 cents. Yes, under a dollar. So having a doctor who cares more about getting me in to see her when I needcare than about making me wait to get that $20 copay is a good thing! A very good thing.

YAY!!! in fact DOUBLE YAY!

Slllluuuurrrrppppp…… Ahhhhhhhhhhh — first sip of coffee.

You know that you are officially a caffeine addict when you whole body gives this little shudder of anticipation as soon as you have that first sip.

There is no way the caffeine can have hit your system yet, but the taste buds let the rest of the body know that the fix is on its way…

Oh-so-YAY!

By the way, the cute cat clutching a mug of coffee over to the right is one of my designs from my store: TxCowboyDancer Designs (yes this is a shameless plug) — but check it out when you get a chance. 🙂